What Israel's election means for Netanyahu, Gaza and Palestinian statehood | Global News Podcast

This is the Global News podcast from. [music] the BBC World Service. I'm Pete. Ross. Coming up, the future of Israel. and the Middle East is still up in the. air after the first Israeli general. election since the Hamas attacks of. October the 7th, 2023 and Israel's. military response across the region. With most of the votes counted, neither. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor. his main opponent Gaddy Eisenot have. enough seats to form a government. >> Even after these tough things, we don't. have a change in our country. It's. really, I think, the worst thing.

>> We'll ask our correspondent in Jerusalem. what happens next. >> To make a majority government or to have. a minority government um that that. worked would be to rely on the support. of the Arabled parties. >> and find out what this election could. mean for the Palestinian people. >> There's like a consensus. that Gaza should be demilitarized. There should be no reconstruction. >> [music].

>> Israel has seen its highest voter. turnout in decades for an election. that's taking place against the backdrop. of the war with Iran, settler violence. in the occupied West Bank, and growing. international pressure over humanitarian. conditions in Gaza. The vast majority of. votes have now been counted. And while. Benjamin Netanyahu's block is ahead, he. lacks the support to stay in power. Israel is in deadlock. Our correspondent. Hugo Basha reports on the mood in the.

country. >> Many in Israel hope this election would. mean the start of a new chapter. But in. a vote as divided as this nation, there's no clear winner and no clear. future. For Benjamin Netanyahu, this is. a fight for his political life. For the. opposition, a chance to perhaps change. the course of the country. Ah it's like. a big disappointing and we feel that we. went through so tough things that even.

after these tough things we don't have a. change in our country. It's really I. think the worst thing. >> The majority of Israel doesn't want to. have change. They want to keep the. situation as it is. They're not looking. for hope. >> This is the man trying to replace the. prime minister. He told supporters they had made history. last night. >> The crowd cheered, but this inconclusive. result means neither side has a path to.

government. A survivor of Israeli politics, Benjamin. Netanyahu was equally defined. We must form a right-wing national. strong government, he told supporters. We always won and it was a big day. >> Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will. be the next prime minister as it. happened last time in Israel. There is. uncertainty and it may take days until.

we get the result. But the numbers. already put pressure on the country's. president. He will be the one to decide. who is going to be the first to have a. shot at forming a government. Then there. will be weeks of difficult negotiations. for a coalition. And it's far from clear. if that is going to be possible. >> So what happens now? I asked our. correspondent in Jerusalem. You'll learn. now. >> We're not going to get until tomorrow, Thursday, the absentee ballots counted, which make up several hundred,000 this.

time, it's thought, with so many. soldiers uh being among that vote. So we. won't get a final result, we think, until late on Thursday. Um but this is. the vast majority of regular votes. that's been counted and for the past few. hours um things have steadied in a. certain direction. Now just bear in mind. that for any political party political. block rather to have a majority in. Israel's parliament they need 61 at. least out of 120 seats. So the L.

couldled block of the prime minister has. 54 seats at the moment. That is a drop. of what it had four years ago. Mr. Netanyahu teaming up with his ultra. orthodox Jewish and ultra nationalist. parties. Um at the last general election. they had a clear majority of 68 out of. 120 seats. But if you look at Gaddy. Eisenot, he does not have a clear path. um to to power either at the moment. Um. it's currently coming out with him. getting 49 seats for his change block.

And the only way that he would be able. um to make a majority government or to. have a minority government um that that. worked would be to rely on the support. of the Arabled parties. Now at the. moment they're getting an unprecedented. 17 uh seats in the new parliament. Israeli Arabs represent about 21%. of the population and in the past their.

turnout has been much lower often. because um voters are disaffected. It. was really pushed up this time when I. spent time in the north in recent days. and in Israel's mixed uh cities. You you. find so many voters are just desperate. to get rid of Israel's most right-wing. ever government. They feel it has been a. disaster for the minority of Arabs in. this country that has really stirred up. racism and hatred. But the problem um is. that on the campaign trail um most of.

the Jewish opposition parties ruled out. entering into any coalition government. with the ArabIsraeli parties. One of the reasons this Israeli election. is being watched so closely around the. world is the sense that the outcome. could affect the future of the. Palestinian people. The level of human. suffering in Gaza, Jewish settler. violence in the occupied West Bank, and. the campaign for Palestinian statethood. have captured international attention. over the last three years. Earlier, I.

asked Isam Ikar Moi of BBC Arabic how. Israel's approach to these issues could. change depending on who forms the next. government. As far as Gaza is concerned, we could safely say that uh all U. Zionist parties as they're called in in. Israel, which means that Israelis who. are committed to the Zionist ideology, there isn't really much difference in.

terms of what should they do with Gaza. there's like a a consensus. that uh Gaza should be demilitarized. There should be no reconstruction. and there should be uh some kind of. encourage encouraging the Gazans to. leave which Palestinians called ethnic. cleansing. As for the West Bank, probably there are some differences. between the various parties. Uh we've. seen recently an escalation of settlers.

attacks on Palestinians. We've seen it. on daily basis now with the uh olive. harvest. Every day Palestinian uh people. who try to go to harvest their olives. They been subjected to attacks by. settlers. Palestinians claim that the. arm is there to protect the settlers. looting or stealing uh property or or. whatsoever. So there might be a little. bit of change there in terms of other. parties. We know that Liood under.

Netanyahu with Bengir and Smutish, they're very much pro-s settlers and. settlement expansion. Well, probably. other parties would be a little bit more. conservative if you want in terms of. they don't want to blacken Israel's. image. they they understand that. Israel's has lost Israel has lost a lot. of the support and goodwill around the. world because of what's what's been. going on in the West Bank in particular. So there might be a change there might.

sort of like crack down on settler. violence against the Palestinians but. that remains to be seen. >> What about the issue of Palestinian. statethood? I mean during this campaign. Netanyahu's been going on about ah you. know if you have to choose between the. right or Palestine in Hebrew or the. rhyme you have to choose between Yamin. or Palestine. So, uh, his rhetoric is being that, uh, the opposition is is a sellout and if.

they get to power, they're going to. surrender and allow, uh, for the. establishment of a Palestinian state. And it's only him and his right-wing. block who would oppose it, which forced. the opposition to come out and say. categorically that they're against a. Palestinian state. They're they're not. going to allow a Palestinian state. So. in the in previous elections I mean. we're talking about 10 years ago before. there used to be something there used to.

be something in Israel called the peace. camp. At the moment there isn't. I mean. merits which used to be very sort of. like leftwing uh Israeli political party. which was for pro Palestinian state is. is is gone is not there. The only other. uh party Zionist party who's sort of. maybe open-minded is the Gulan and the. Democrats. Apart from that, if you look. at the right laid, Mafali Bennett, Liberman, all of these shas, the.

other religious party, they're all. against uh the establishment of. Brazilian state. Of course, Smooth Rich. and Bing Vir are in that category. >> And that's all for now. To hear more. about any of the stories we covered. today, [music] you can find the audio. version of the Global News podcast. wherever you get your podcasts. If you'd. like to get in touch, our contact. details are below. I'm Pete Ross. Until. next time, goodbye. [music].